Hope you are all doing well. I pray the Almighty that He keeps you well in His care now and always. May His grace fill all your hearts and homes.

Once there was a competition in a town. The competition was to see who had the most beautiful heart. That was to be decided by taking an X-ray picture of the hearts of the competitors. So, the day for the competition came. All who wanted to participate in the competition gathered in one place and the process of taking X-ray pictures of them all started. In that crowd, there was a young lady who was the most beautiful in that crowd and there was also an old man with wrinkled face. The crowd thought that the young lady would get the first prize.

The day for the results came. All the competitors gathered in the area with eagerness and anxiety. Many were expecting that the young lady would have first place for having a very beautiful heart as her appearance was very beautiful. The jury came to announce the result. There was uproar from the crowd in anxiety. One of the jury got up and announced the result: “Hereby the jury has come to an agreement in deciding the most beautiful heart of this town and that heart is the heart of the old man.”

There was a great silence for a minute and one from the crowd asked the jury, “How can this be possible? This young lady should have had a beautiful heart!” The jury replied, “Yes, the lady has a very beautiful heart, untouched and immaculate. But this man has a heart full of scars: scars of worries, scars of disappointments, scars of care for others, scars of experience, scars of treasons by others, scars of negligence, scars of concern for the needy, scars of non-acceptance, scars of failures, scars of tough times of his life. Though that heart had so many scars, those scars made the heart more beautiful than the young lady’s heart. That is why the jury had decided this way. Do you see now?” The whole crowd accepted it with tears running down their cheeks.

Most of the time we have a different notion of beauty. I am not trying to explain something about beauty here. When we see the wrinkled faces, we should be able to see the amount of experiences people have, we should look beyond those wrinkles. There are lot of stories hidden behind them. When I shake hands with people and I come across some hard palms, I realize the amount of work those hands have done. When I see the stern faces, I see the hard moments those faces have gone through. When I see the indifferent people, I see the negative experiences the world has given them. These are the beautiful faces that we can come across. They have a heart more beautiful than the hearts that are untouched and unstained.

We need to have a beautiful heart like that of the old man, with scars, scars of love, affection, and concern for others. Are we ready to acquire such a heart? The hearts of Jesus and Mary were ones such as this.

Hope you are all doing well. My prayers for you all that you may have good health of mind and body and that you may be blessed abundantly by the Almighty.

While we enjoy the calmness of the mother nature in our area, we need to think of those affected by the wrath and uproar of the nature in some parts of our country. There are people who have lost their homes, who have lost their loved ones, who have lost their peace of mind, who have lost their serenity of heart. These are the people whom we have to think about and pray for. More than the material helps we can provide, our prayers will have added consolation to all who suffer any kind of loss.

I would like to appreciate you all for the generosity you showed during the special second collection for the victims of the hurricanes. Some of you even came to me before mass and asked me if there was going to be a second collection. That showed your love and concern for the people who are in need. God bless you for your generosity and kind heart. Keep up the same spirit of love and brotherhood.

I would like to thank you for your prayers during my visit to India. The wedding was good and we enjoyed the ceremony. Thank you also for your prayers for my niece who got married. I hope your prayers will go a long way with the couple in their married life. Kindly continue to pray for them.

My return to my second home was interesting. There was a lady sitting next to me with some symptoms of cold and few more ailments. She was very generous. Her generosity offered me the cold and related gifts of headache, fever, sore throat and so on. So, I had to land with all these generous gifts which I don’t want to share with anybody. So, try to stay away from me whenever you see me. Even if you don’t shake hands with me or no hugs, I understand that you love me and I love you all too. Let our love be at a distance, at least for the time being.

I do not have any story this week. From next week, you will have one. Keep well and enjoy the season. God bless.

Dear friends, Hope you are doing well. I am home trying to get everything done and get back to Auburndale. Thank you all for your prayers for my safe travels. This is not a long vacation, but it is good to be with the parents, siblings and all other relatives.

There was once a master who was traveling in a desert on his camel. The evening came and he had to rest. So he pitched his tent and had his supper. Then he went to lie down on his bed. After a while the camel called the master and said, "Master, it is very cold out here. Would you kindly let me peep my nose-tip into the tent so that I may feel better?" The master feeling pity for the camel said, "Yes. You can do so." Time passed. The camel again called the master and said, " Master, it is really cold. Can I have my head inside the tent so that I may feel a little warmer and more comfortable?" The master nodded and the camel put his head into the tent. Camel was happy and time passed by.

After a while the camel requested of the master, saying, "Master, you are so generous and loving. Would you in your kindness let me put my two forelegs into the tent?" The master couldn't resist the request be-cause the camel praised him and because the camel had to be fine if the travel should continue well the next day. A while later another request came from the camel to have a little more space offered. Now the master almost had to squeeze himself out to make space for the camel. By the end of the night the master ended up outside the tent and the camel lay inside the tent comfortably sleeping.

This is what happens in our lives. Our sinful attitude and bad behavior are like the camel. They all start with peeping into us with the nose-tip, but at the end we are out of ourselves and we lose our identity as a human person and a true Christian. We should always be on the guard to keep watch that the camel not encroach into our human personality. If we fail we will have to face the consequences as the master in the story.

Also on the same note we may start cultivating good habits and a virtuous life. Little by little if we try to cultivate the life of faith and virtue, we will surely have a recompense. May we all try to do that which is never impossible.

God bless. Sincerely yours in Christ, Fr. A. Antony.

Pastor's ColumnPosted here is the weekly column featured in the bulletin of Saint Mary, Saint Michael & Saint Kilian parishes.